Intertwining Paths
by Shadow Oblivion
Summary: Law always found himself drawn to a certain individual, in one way or another. If Law knew the reason why he kept seeing the same blond, it had long since passed from his mind. A collection of drabbles and one-shots. The rating for this fic will range from K to M with the genre going from fluff and humor to angst and tragedy, depending on the situation. Coralaw for most chapters.
1. Coat Closet

A/N: This fic mainly came out of the fact that I've been experiencing writer's block lately regarding many of my ongoing fics, and drabbles seem to be helping. The chapters for this fic are not connected; I may do a continuation of one, but this fic is mainly meant to play around with the two characters in different situations/relationships.

And for the sake of my sanity, whenever there's a chapter with them in a romantic relationship (which, to be honest, is a majority of what this fic will be), let's just say that Rocinante and Law will only be up to six years apart in age difference, give or take. Also, Roci can be like, eight feet tall or something, as it will mainly be modern AU stuff unless otherwise stated at beginning of a chapter. Also, depending on what is written, the IC might be off and have more OOC in it. Might try out different tenses too.

This should be it for A/Ns, as the chapters will, for the most part, be very short (like the next one), and I really do hate bogging chapters down with A/N's (like this one). So unless there's something that needs to be addressed, I'll just post chapters with no A/N's after this one.

Disclaimer: I own nothing from One Piece.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

He was behind schedule.

Not that that was anything new, considering how often his clumsiness impeded him. That impromptu maintenance sweep of the men's room in the gymnasium, however, had nothing to do with that clumsiness for once. But it did take Rocinante longer than he'd imagined, and that put Rocinante late in getting to the teacher's lounge that he frequented after school hours.

About an hour and a half later than he meant to arrive, in fact.

Rocinante hesitantly peeked around the door and flashed an embarrassed smile at the lone occupant.

The teacher in question quirked an eyebrow in return before his eyes went back to papers on his lap.

"Law, I'm going to be late in getting home tonight." Rocinante said by way of greeting. "It's taking longer than I thought."

"So I've noticed." The dark haired teacher responded.

"There's some screwed up wiring that will need to be dealt with by an electrician." Rocinante added, distracted by the other man's eyes on him.

"What are you saying, Cora?" Law questioned as he stowed his class' papers in a bag. "Are you saying that I should head home instead of waiting for you to finish up?"

"I'll be at least another two hours. Maybe more." Rocinante confirmed apologetically. "There were a lot of requests to fix things before tomorrow's classes, and it's already seven at night." If Law had a crack about the blond for being able to fix things but still trip over his own feet, it didn't show in Law's voice when he spoke.

"Come over here." Law said after a brief pause, indicating the coat closet in the lounge. "There's something I want to tell you."

Rocinante didn't question his lover's reasonings, and he was even curious as to what the other man had to say. Maybe he'd retrieve his jacket and go home instead of waiting for him to finish up. But when Law opened the closet and didn't even make a grab for his coat, Rocinante took it upon himself to brush past the dark haired teacher to retrieve it for him.

And that was when Law made his move.

Rocinante stumbled up against the coat closet as Law pressed up against him from behind.

And slid his hands up beneath the blond haired man's shirt, fingertips lightly tracing along skin.

"I've missed you these past few weeks." Law breathed, his breath slightly uneven as he urged Rocinante closer to the coat closet, hands still groping along the blond's abdomen. "Get in the closet." Law nearly groaned when Rocinante tentatively pressed back up against him. " _Get in_."

"You want to do that _now_?" Rocinante asked, embarrassed when Law's hands deftly divested him of his belt. "But-"

"Yes, now. I won't get to see you until tomorrow evening."

Rocinante turned around to protest that but found Law's arms thrown around his neck instead as the dark haired teacher hungrily locked lips with him. And Rocinante, being who he was, promptly lost his balance over the sudden action and toppled into the still open coat closet. The blond righted himself as best he could with Law half on his lap, the dark haired man still tightly pressed to him and making the attempt to steal the breath out of him with an electrifying and delicious kiss.

"What if someone sees?" Rocinante asked breathlessly, once the other had freed him from the kiss.

Law impatiently closed them in the spacious coat closet in response.

"What if someone hears?" The blond whispered.

"Let them." Law said as he made quick work of their pants.

The blond haired man didn't protest after that.

Rocinante didn't remember ever having sex in a cost closet but he knew he wouldn't mind doing it again sometime, provided they weren't caught. But the blond haired man wasn't going to admit it aloud, as it has been rather embarrassing.

Law, however, picked up on the blond's like of coat closet sex relatively quickly and made it a point to get Rocinante in one at least once every other week, depending on how often the blond got called in to do work at the school.

Rocinante had been mortified but made no arguments over it because each time it happened Law always made sure to press his body closer. And Rocinante was kissed so thoroughly that the blond tended to forgot that he'd initially been embarrassed over the whole thing.

For his part, Law had merely been disappointed that he hasn't figured things out sooner in order to utilize the coat closet in the teacher's lounge. Not only did he get to be close with his lover but Law also got to get on the nerve of another teacher, one Eustass Kid, who had been pissed off as of late over the fact that his jacket tended to smell of sex at the end of the day every other week, give or take, for no apparent reason.

It was a wonder the red head didn't leave his jacket elsewhere after it had happened more than once.

Law smirked at the thought as he all but dragged Rocinante into the coat closet at the end of another long day of teaching.

Kid's jacket was there again.

Law's smirk deepened as he closed the coat closet doors and brought Rocinante closer to him to kiss.

Revenge was sweet, and so was the sex.


	2. Everlasting Rose

Rocinante first noticed the golden eyed stranger a few days into his part time job at the flower shop. It was nearly impossible to have overlooked the man, nor the way that their eyes had met for the briefest of moments. And that was the closest the blond would ever be to that man again. Though Rocinante did realize that he was being watched soon after that odd encounter.

It happened a few days after the dark haired man had come into the flower shop.

One morning, Rocinante happened to look up after opening the shop, and realized that the golden eyed man had appeared again, and was currently staring at him in a watchful, yet wary, way. The dark haired man, Rocinante noticed, had taken to standing on the sidewalk across from the flower shop, and he would stare at Rocinante as he worked for hours at a time. The dark haired man never entered the shop after the first time. Never moved from where he stood until a little before Rocinante's shift ended.

Day after day, week after week, month after month this same routine continued.

Until one day it stopped.

Rocinante realized with a jolt that the watchful gaze of the golden eyed man was not there that day. And it made him feel as if something was missing, and the blond wasn't sure what to do about it.

Until he caught sight of a rather beautiful rose in the shop.

Rocinante decided that he would put it into a vase, and place it in the corner of the shop where he could see it at all times. But even with the rose where it was now, it paled in comparison to the man who was not there that day. But the sight of the rose reassured Rocinante nonetheless. It was as if he were being watched, in a way. The blond haired man went back to work. Rocinante figured that the man would be back another time. It was a rather stormy day, after all. Maybe the stranger had stayed home that day.

Unbeknownst to Rocinante, the golden eyed man would never return to watch him from afar.

Rocinante continued to place a single flower in a vase alongside the one that contained the rose, which had surprisingly not yet withered, in the corner of the shop. Rocinante would take the rose with him when he did not work for days at a time. As if he had to make sure that the rose lasted for as long as it could in its petrified state. And throughout this subconscious act, the blond had no idea what significance it actually held.

For the day that Rocinante put the rose in the vase was the same day that Trafalgar Law died in a fatal accident in his attempt to get to the flower shop.

Rocinante would never know that Law had been trying to work up the nerve to go back into the flower shop and actually speak to him. All the blond would have to remember the encounter with Law by was the ritual of placing a new flower into a vase when the previous withered and died. And watch with a quiet wonder at the rose that would not wither or lose its petals.

And when the blond haired man died, years and years later, the single rose in the vase that had been with him in the room at the time, which had lasted for so long in pristine condition, withered and died the moment Rocinante's labored breathing ceased.


	3. Hearts

Rocinante felt like a fool.

He'd made all of these great plans for the day, and he'd thrown himself off schedule for forgetting the food for dinner that evening. He and Law had decided to stay home, instead of going out that night like seemingly everyone else. The blond had been rather suspicious of how indifferent Law was about the whole thing, but Rocinante was happy, and the dark haired man seemed to be as well.

But as soon as Rocinante arrived home, laden with groceries and a few new scratches from falling down, his face fell.

The lights were on in the house.

Law had managed to get home before he could, which meant...which meant...

A blush crossed Rocinante's face as he fretted outside the front door. If Law was inside, and he ought to be, since Rocinante hadn't left that many lights on, it would mean that the dark haired man would see all the lovey-dovey and downright embarrassing things in the house that the blond hadn't finished getting ready. It was too bad that Rocinante would only get the commentary instead of the reaction Law would have had to all the flowers and chocolate and wine scattered around the house.

"Law?" The blond questioned softly once he worked up the nerve to actually go inside the house.

"In here, Cora."

Rocinante frowned. Law sounded like his usual self, but there was a hint of suppressed mirth in the dark haired man's voice as well. The blond fidgeted, thinking that didn't bode well. Rocinante remembered the last time he'd heard that tone, and he'd ended up cross-eyed and painfully aroused by the end of that particular encounter.

...not that that was actually a bad thing, but still, Rocinante liked more warning before Law did something unexpected to turn him on.

"Where are you?"

"The bathroom."

Rocinante's frown faded into a quizzical line but he headed for the room in question. Whatever the blond was going to say left him completely as Rocinante entered the bathroom and saw that Law had decided to theme himself after the décor.

And splay himself precariously on the vanity amidst the flowers that were there.

That is to say, Law posed there on the vanity, and was naked but for some rather scanty looking lingerie that didn't look like it should fit him. But what distracted Rocinante more was the fact that Law had taken it upon the himself to eat chocolate and rather messily so that it fell on his tanned skin at random.

At a faint sound from the blond, Law stretched himself out comfortably, legs hanging off just so in order to give the other man a better view.

Rocinante stared some more, at a loss for words, but fairly certain that his mind was being pulled in several different directions, and it was mainly centered on exactly what kind of dessert he wanted that night.

"Someone was busy in the house." Law teased, finishing off the chocolate and licking each of his fingers slowly, his eyes on Rocinante's. Smudges of chocolate sauce remained here and there on the dark haired man's chest. "Did you have something in mind?"

The blond ended up hyperventilating and then promptly fainted. It had been too much for him to process in that one instance, and it didn't help that Law had tantalizingly drawn a finger through some chocolate on his tattooed chest, and had slowly sucked it off the finger.

Law's eyes had also been fixed on the blond, something clearly much more lewd going on in his mind with the act.

When Rocinante regained consciousness, he found the dark haired man leaning over him, half concerned and half bemused.

"Too much?" Law asked as he ruffled the messy blond hair.

"Maybe a little." Rocinante said quietly, even as he reached up to grab a hold of Law's hand. "But for the record, I liked it. I just wasn't expecting it."

"That is the nature of a surprise." Law responded with a smirk, his golden eyes reflecting some form of continued amusement.

Rocinante opened his mouth to respond when he realized that Law was still wearing that scandalous scrap of lingerie.

"Where did you even get that?" Rocinante blushed when he realized that there were little hearts all over it. "And why are you wearing it?"

"It was something of a joke between myself and Mr. Eustass. He bet I wouldn't go through with it and I said I would."

Rocinante frowned at that but was reassured when Law leaned closer to peck him on the cheek.

"I don't mind doing this now and again. The results are amusing in any case. I just didn't expect you to actually pass out like that."

"And if you didn't do...this?" Rocinante indicated Law's sole source of clothing, even if the blond almost didn't want to know.

"I'd have had to wear it for Mr. Eustass." Law said as he settled on the floor of the bathroom next to Rocinante.

The blond took a breath before he let it out and shyly wrapped an arm around Law's waist to trace the skin above the lingerie with his fingertips.

"Cora?"

"But you wouldn't have done that." Rocinante urged Law onto his lap and nuzzled him nose to nose, wearing a happy smile. "Not with him."

"No, I wouldn't have." Law admitted. "Only for you."

Nothing more was said that night.

-x

Two weeks later Law returned home from work. The dark haired man was greeted by the sight of Rocinante in their bedroom, smiling as if pleased with himself as he beamed at the dark haired man from where he was strategically posed on the bed.

Naked.

Law needed only a moment to assess the situation before he dropped his keys, kicked off his shoes and joined the blond in bed.

But as soon as Law's clothes were off, it was Rocinante who ended up blushing and stuttering.

It was planned, of course.

Law had anticipated the blond's retaliation and had worn risqué lingerie that hugged in places that left little to the imagination. He had several pairs, as it were, for instances like this when Rocinante though he could spring a surprise on him.

Rocinante's face steadily kept getting redder as he stared and then stared some more, as if checking to see he wasn't dreaming. And then he saw that there were little marks all over the tanned skin, and upon closer inspection...

The blond haired man seemed to struggle for a moment before he gave up and gave in. Especially when Law impatiently indicated he wanted to be kissed and showed it as he plastered himself against Rocinante's side and none too subtly ground against the blond with a playful lilt to his voice.

"See something you like?"

"Yes." Rocinante took a breath. "But I see what I like everyday." The blond stared at Law pointedly before he smiled. "Now come here so I can see how many of those you drew on yourself."

The lingerie had a short life as Rocinante took his own words to heart and explored every bit of tanned skin for all of the marks the dark haired man had drawn on himself.

Law supposed he could have taken mercy on the blond and not have doodled so many hearts all over himself, but Rocinante's enthusiasm that night made it well worth the hours it had taken. The dark haired man had, after all, made a point to carefully doodle Rocinante's name right above his ass with assistance from a mirror, along with many hearts around the name and spiraling outward to wind around his tattoos.

The dark haired man could have sworn that he had heard Rocinante laugh softly against the side of his neck later that night at the absurdity of it.


	4. Stay

Rocinante looked as if he were going to cry.

Law couldn't imagine why. All he had done was ask the other man if he wanted company that night. And since it looked like the blond haired man were incapable of speech, or, for some reason, had not heard him, Law repeated the words he'd just said.

"Cora? Did you hear me? I wanted to know if you would like some company tonight?"

The continued lack of response on Rocinante's part left the two men standing there in the cold for longer than was necessary, until the blond finally managed to find his words.

"I'd love it if you'd stay with me for awhile longer tonight. We haven't seen each other for weeks." Rocinante finally managed to say, still teary eyed as if Law had asked for more than he could have hoped for.

Law thought Rocinante could be quite silly over some things at times, but as it was what he'd wanted the other man to say, he didn't press the issue and merely followed along after Rocinante to his house.

'Awhile longer' ended up turning into overnight, which had led to less and less clothes as the night progressed, until finally there was an amused Law and bashful Rocinante in a shared bed.

Naked.

-x

The next morning Law lazily stretched out as he pressed himself close to Rocinante's side with a light sigh. He smirked a little when the blond draped an arm over his waist in what appeared to be an automatic response.

"Was this your plan all along? To get me in bed with you?" Law teased when it appeared as if the blond were awake enough to have a conversation.

"N...No that...that isn't what..." Rocinante was blushing and trying to deny it, so Law took it upon himself to kiss the blond and then give him a meaningful look.

"Well...I did want to be more then friends...eventually..." Rocinante said in a small voice, as if embarrassed to admit it aloud.

"Apparently, as we had sex last night." Law caressed Rocinante's cheeks lightly and leaned in for another, more lingering kiss. "Why did it take you so long to figure it out?"

"What?" Rocinante looked at Law in confusion. "Figure what out?"

"I've been waiting for you to make a move, but you were taking so long that I was really starting to think that you weren't interested in being more than just 'friends'."

Rocinante stared, at a loss for words.

Law smirked in return, waiting patiently for a response.

"You're sneaky." Rocinante said at length as dragged Law up against his chest in a hug.

"You're cute. Are you blushing because I've been wanting to be with you or because we had sex last night?" The dark haired man asked wryly.

"Law." Rocinante stuttered, before he quieted for a moment and buried his face against Law's shoulder. "...I love you."

"I know you do." Law said as he remained where he was in the blond's embrace. "So don't go anywhere now that you've said it."

"I won't." Rocinante promised, and held true to his word from that day on.

He stayed.


	5. Partners

Everything that could have gone wrong that night did.

So Corazon was fleeing for his life with bullets whizzing by. It was a miracle that he had not yet been hit by any of them, but it was only a matter of time before he was cornered and finished off.

But with the danger looming from behind, it made Corazon think that someone had betrayed him in some way or another. There was no way that all of those gang members would have been able to converge on him so quickly, and at exactly the time that Corazon had come to the warehouse to do a business deal with a leader from another gang.

They had never shown up, and so now Corazon was making a run for it in the hopes of losing his trigger happy shadows and therefore prolonging his life to another day.

And that was when Corazon did a spectacular flail as he tripped over something on the ground as he rounded a corner of the pier. It caused the blond to take a nosedive into the freezing river water where he was then was washed along the river and out of sight of his pursuers.

In a way, it was a good thing, but on the other hand, the blond knew that he was going to be in danger of drowning or freezing to death if he didn't get out of the water and soon.

Corazon fought his way to the surface and when he did, he was met with a lucky break.

A dock within his reach that he quickly latched on to.

That was where his luck ended, as there was suddenly the muzzle of a gun jammed beneath his chin, and the sound of soft laughter.

"That was unintentional, wasn't it?"

Corazon struggled for a moment to make sense of the words, as he was more concerned with the fact that there was a gun resting against his chin. Beneath flattened, wet bangs, Corazon met the almost blank, disinterested look on a young, dark haired man's face.

"I asked you a question." The man prompted with a light tap of the gun.

"I…I'm very clumsy at times." Corazon managed to say, swallowing nervously as the gun remained right beneath his chin, unwavering. The blond was tense from the idea that the trigger could be pulled any second, and cold from still being mostly submerged in the frigidness of the river. "May I come out of the water? It's cold."

Corazon honestly didn't expect for the man to kneel, seize him by the hair, and, while keeping the gun firmly beneath his chin, kiss him. The blond made a muffled sound into the kiss, surprised at the level of intensity and the way that the dark haired man had unashamedly roved the entirety of his mouth with his tongue.

Corazon was gasping for air by the end of the kiss, and staring at the other man like he was crazy.

The gun, after all, was still beneath Corazon's chin, but that didn't retract from what a surprise the kiss had been. It was the last thing that the blond would have expected to happen when being threatened death by gun.

The dark haired man tapped the muzzle of the gun beneath Corazon's chin as if he didn't do anything out of the ordinary. "Leave this place before the others show up. They'll figure out where you are sooner or later, so it'd be best to get out of here as soon as possible."

"You're letting me go? Why?" The incredulous look prompted the dark haired man to make a different expression. A smirk appeared across his lips, as if he knew something Corazon didn't. But the man said nothing, and got out of his crouch to back away from Corazon, taking the gun with him as he holstered it.

"Wait!" Corazon said as he struggled up and out of the water. "What's your name?"

"Law."

"I…I'm Corazon…"

Law flashed an amused smirk Corazon's way. "Sure you are." And then the dark haired man walked away, leaving Corazon to fend for himself.

-x

Corazon really wasn't sure what to think when, a few days later, he came across Doflamingo speaking to Law nonchalantly. And when Corazon was noticed, two conspiring smiles were flashed his way, and that seemed to confirm what Corazon had been wondering ever since he made it home safely a few nights ago.

He had been set up.

It didn't make getting shot at any better, but at the very least he wouldn't have to worry about Law ever pulling a gun on him again. The blond knew this when the dark haired man walked right up to him, grabbed him firmly by the arm, and led him away.

"Come on, _Rocinante_. I'm going to be your partner from now on. Doflamingo said someone should keep an eye on you so that you don't get into any more accidents when working." Law's grip tightened as he flashed a smile Corazon's way. "I'll take very good care of you, Cora, so don't worry about a thing."

Corazon honestly didn't know what to say to that other than wonder about Law's motives.

Like that kiss that night.

Law just smirked and led the blond away. He mentioned something about target practice, but it was certainly not the kind target practice that Corazon had anticipated.

But it did let the blond know Law's intentions better.

Doflamingo had watched his brother and the new recruit go, and couldn't help but find the entire situation highly amusing. Doflamingo figured that Corazon could do with a partner, both for work and for in the bedroom, so really, Law showing up as he had was great in that matter.

Corazon begged to differ the next morning when he couldn't get to breakfast because he couldn't get out of bed without a lot of trouble.

Law, in the same bed and smug, was clearly unashamed for being the perpetrator in making it difficult for Corazon to get out of said bed.

The next few years, to say the least, were very interesting for all involved, because sometimes Law was too interested in Corazon to actually do his job. That occasionally led to butting heads with Doflamingo, and embarrassing Corazon by having someone find him and Law in bed most mornings, and in rather compromising positions too.


	6. Drunk

Rocinante was exhausted and wasn't precisely sure how long he'd been in the same building. Unfortunately, it was because he was drunk that he was having such a hard time. Or rather, he had consumed too much alcohol that night, which had not been his plan. There had been a reason for it, he was sure of it. Like he'd supposed to have been speaking to someone.

It was stupid of Rocinante, however, to not have a ride home, so he'd been in the restaurant for some time, fretting about what to do. And feeling, in the haze that was his mind, that there was someone who he ought to be calling, but couldn't remember who. He honestly couldn't remember much at this point, and felt terrible because of it.

And then there was a large blank in his memory, and when Rocinante became aware again, he found himself in a bedroom that seemed familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time.

It was very confusing for the blond, who was still not sure how he'd managed to get anywhere as drunk as he'd been.

Rocinante looked around the room blearily until his eyes fell on a bed.

Sleep sounded good right now. He could figure out where he was later.

Rocinante collapsed onto the bed without a second's thought, because even though he knew he should have been more aware of his surroundings, the blond haired man felt safe. And when the bed dipped, signaling that someone had joined him, Rocinante didn't flinch away from the body that suddenly curled against him. It felt very familiar, that. Rocinante briefly opened his eyes to take a look at who had joined him, and saw curious golden eyes peering back at him.

Huh.

Rocinante had no idea who the other man was, but felt he shouldn't say so, because the dark haired man clearly knew him.

"Is something the matter, Cora? You're looking at me oddly."

Rocinante absently reached over and mussed the other man's hair up, and couldn't help but smile when the golden eyes closed as if enjoying the gesture.

"You're still drunk, aren't you?" The man accused, more amused then upset. "You don't remember me right now, do you?"

"No, but I know I should." Rocinante admitted, feeling slightly guilty. "Tell me?"

"I'm Law." The golden eyed man said, smirking as if he found the blond very entertaining. "And we are going out with each other."

"Really?" Rocinante was surprised. He was going out with someone very attractive, what with those golden eyes and all.

"You like my eyes?" Law asked, indicating that the blond had spoken his previous thought aloud. "I know something else you like." The dark haired man's smirk grew at whatever that 'like' was.

"What?" Rocinante stuttered, sounding overwhelmed as Law half rested over his chest. Before the blond could ask what was going on, the dark haired man had already kissed him. Rocinante was silent a moment as Law stared at him in return, before Rocinante spoke breathlessly. "Could you do that again?"

Amused, Law gave the blond another kiss, before he patted Rocinante's cheek. "Now, go to sleep. I want you to be sober enough to tease in the morning."

The blond merely wrapped his arms around Law's back securely and started to kiss him, and being drunk, ended up missing more often than not. But it made the golden eyed man let out startled laughter, and for some reason, that made Rocinante very happy.

-x

The following morning Rocinante had a terrible hangover, and as Law took care of him throughout the morning, the blond knew that something had happened the night before.

And he couldn't remember what.

Law, once he saw that Rocinante was more or less sobered up, even if he felt like shit, rested comfortably up against him, wearing a smirk.

That let Rocinante know something had happened, and he blushed when Law finally spoke.

"So, am I still just an attractive stranger in your bed or do you remember me now?"

Rocinante was never going to drink again.

"Or that you couldn't believe we were actually going out because I was so hot?" Law's smirk intensified as he reached up and traced his fingertips along the blond's jaw. "I didn't know you wouldn't recognize me when you are so drunk, Cora."

Rocinante flushed even more, and ended up being held by Law as the blond apologized over and over for forgetting who Law was during his drunken spell the night before.

The apologies ended with a kiss.

"I want you only to get that drunk when you're with me, understand?" Law requested, once he had the blond's attention.

"Of course. I don't want to end up somewhere and not have you be there." Rocinante sounded horrified by the idea, so of course he was quite happy to agree to Law's request, even if he didn't know why it had come up now.

The dark haired man would never say why, no matter how much Rocinante pressed. Law would rather take it to the grave, anyway, that he wanted to secretly appreciate all the compliments that Rocinante gave him while drunk.

Law pretended that he didn't like the compliments as much as he did when Rocinante gave them to him while sober. Law did, however, make certain that he reassured the blond in other ways that he did care for him.

The dark haired man just couldn't directly take compliments and never would, unless the blond were drunk and friendly and gushing over him.

Law figured it was okay then because Rocinante wouldn't remember it the next day. If he had known the game was up, he might have been more hesitant to be so open when he thought the blond was 'drunk.'

Rocinante, for his part, just tended to smile, even after he'd figured out what was going on. He got to compliment Law, and even if he eventually had to pretend he was drunk, it made him thrilled to see Law get almost shy over the compliments. And get very familiar and comfortable with him.

It was a win-win in the blond's mind.

Fake being drunk and make Law happy.

Rocinante couldn't see any downside to that, as it made him happy as well to get all the attention from Law in return.


End file.
